Us Visa Requirements For Swiss Nationals

[Maestro]

My new regular passport, which I think to exchange against the temporary one just before I leave this country, is waiting at Swiss Embassy already.

Is the Swiss embassy giving you the new passport in the 03 version or the 06 version? How long did it take for it to be ready?

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Maestro

[gzu88bv]

P.S. Is the Swiss embassy giving you the new passport in the 03 version or the 06 version? How long did it take for it to be ready? (This is just for my personal interest; it makes no difference to your question about stamp transfer)

Thank you.

You can order a passport with Swiss Embassy by correspondence. They send you a form (1 page) to fill in which is accompanied by a letter in Thai explaining that the form has to be countersigned in my presence by a Thai authority. My nearest immigration who exactly knows who I am, where I live, etc. etc. plainly refused to countersign that form telling me that it was not their duty!!! By the way, my girl, a teacher and Thai officer, who is always with me in such matters and does the dealing and wheeling for me with the Thais did not understand the world any longer. TIT.

What immigration did however, is copy again everything, pile up my file as if I lived here like a criminal or flew from my former Swiss wife.

Therefore, being solely registered at Swiss Embassy in BKK, I ordered there in person the 03 version (none-biometric) together with ID card for THB 4400 on April 16. On May 2 the embassy advised me by E-mail that passport is available and would be sent out to me by EMS against the old one.

I in fact wonder if version 06 is readily available, but I did not care since version 03 still qualifies me to go to the US without a visa which is good enough for me and there is no hefty fee attached to it.

[Maestro]

I in fact wonder if version 06 is readily available, but I did not care since version 03 still qualifies me to go to the US without a visa which is good enough for me and there is no hefty fee attached to it.

All non-Swiss, no need to read this.

Gzu88bv, thank you for the information. It is, in fact, the US connection that got me wondering and I am afraid you may be in for a surprise. I know a Swiss who, after her passport was stolen, applied at the competent office in Switzerland for a new one and was given the option of a temporary passport, valid for one year, or a regular passport. She opted for the regular passport because she could wait, and was given version 03. The option of version 06 was not even mentioned. Three days before her flight to the USA she found out that a passport 03 issued after 26 October 2006 needs a visa for the USA. As there was insufficient time to get this visa, she cancelled her trip to the USA.

Not only when dealing with Thai authorities can things be complicated!

Reference links:

US embassy in Switzerland

US government

Airline check-in requirements, eg Delta airlines

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Maestro

[manuchaomk]

why you didn't ask to our Swiss Embassy the biometric-label (it is a sticker you attach to your passport) .

Another important information is that the 2006 version is NONE BIOM. too (it's smaller than 03 version, with a barcode that isn't Biometric !!!!!)

[manuchaomk]

Anyway it isn't necessary to make a Visa.

I visited (2006) Mexico and Miami with my old passport !!

In Miami I just filled some datas in a Module.

Manu

[Maestro]

Anyway it isn't necessary to make a Visa.

I visited (2006) Mexico and Miami with my old passport !!

...because your Swiss passport model 03 was issued before 26 October 2006.

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Maestro

[Maestro]

why you didn't ask to our Swiss Embassy the biometric-label (it is a sticker you attach to your passport) .

Another important information is that the 2006 version is NONE BIOM. too (it's smaller than 03 version, with a barcode that isn't Biometric !!!!!)

Unfortunately, it is not that simple. You cannot just have the embassy add a “biometric label” to the passport model 03 and – hey presto! – it is acceptable to US immigration for entry without a visa if the passport was issued after 26 October 2006. For visa-free entry into the USA, you really need either a passport model 03 issued before 26 October 2006 or a passport model 06.

It is not the barcode, respectively the machine-readable line of text you probably mean, that needs to be biometric. It is the data chip embedded in model 06, which obviously also contains the data represented by the machine-readable text but additionally also a digital version of the photograph in the passport. In the context of “biometric passport” it is this data chip and the digital images of certain anatomical features stored on it that makes the passport biometric. With the Swiss passport model 06 this biometric data is, I believe, at present limited to the photograph. (The Thai biometric passport, I believe, contains in addition to the photograph also the digital picture of the fingerprint of the index fingers. Other countries may use other standards.)

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Maestro

[manuchaomk]

Hi mr.Maestro,

Thank you for your point of view. Appreciate.

I believe in your resume... . but anyway I didn't have problems and I spent amazing time too.

cruezi, sawasdee krapppp'om

Manu Chao

[skysurfn3d]

Hello,

I just wanted to advise that with the 03 CH passport, you DO need a visa USA Visa to visit the USA. With the 06 CH passport, you do NOT need a USA Visa to visit the USA.

I learned this first had last year at the airport. Not an issue for me since I am a dual national ;-)

[Maestro]

...with the 03 CH passport, you DO need a visa USA Visa to visit the USA...

Yes and no. It depends on the date of issue of the model 03 passport:

US embassy in Switzerland

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Maestro

[gzu88bv]

Not only when dealing with Thai authorities can things be complicated!

I agree with you indeed and even as a big US fan I am quite happy with my new non-biometric passport and I can do without further travels to the US

when I read this as attached

USA_Reisen.pdf